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My Experience with Audi of Des Moines

Brought my wife's 2011 Audi S5 with approx. 20,000 miles to Audi of Des MoinesAudi S5 wheel 1.jpgAudi S5 wheel 2.jpgAudi S5 wheel 3.jpg for a warranty repair to the rear Sports Differential in mid-2016. The factory warranty was just ending, and we saw drops of oil on the floor. Common issue, the seal in the Sports Differential was leaking and needed fixed. We brought the Car to Audi of Des Moines, issue confirmed, repairs were performed and off we went. Minor snag - we discovered the tech(s) had sat in the car and got some grease/oil on the light silver Alcantara insert on both front seats. Audi paid to have the car detailed and the seats were cleaned to our satisfaction. No big deal. Plus they gave us a free oil change which was nice.

About 5 months later and approx. 3000 miles, my wife heard a loud BANG while making a right turn into a gas station. We then heard a scratching noise that was constant with the rotation of the left rear wheel. We had the vehicle taken to Audi of Des Moines. I was told by the Service Advisor that the noise we were hearing was due to "heat shield bolts that got rusty and fell out, causing the shield to hit the left rear axle". "It will cost you $900 for us to fix it". This made no sense to me given the low mileage of the car and lack of winter use. I asked to have the vehicle put back on the lift so I could inspect.

Service Manager suddenly shows up and we look at it together. He points out 2 bolts that had backed out of the left rear axle where it attaches to the rear end. Others were loose. He also points out where the left rear axle has snapped - explaining the BANG we heard. No rust anywhere and the heat shield was indeed hitting the axle - but only because the axle snapped and hit it - causing the damage. Clearly their tech did not properly torque the axle bolts and they backed out from the previous warranty repair. Their story changed from me paying them $900 to fix.. to them taking care of replacing the axle, heat shield and bolts free of charge. I authorized the repairs but left feeling like I exposed an attempted cover-up of a botched repair. Had I not requested to inspect the damage I would have had been charged $900 to fix their mistake and would never have known the true extent of the damage to my vehicle.

They replace the axle and off we go. About 1 month and 800 miles later, We hear a noise again from the left rear wheel. Back to Audi of Des Moines. Now, it the left rear wheel bearing that's failed. At 21,000 miles. Since this is attached directly to the axle that snapped, I'm figuring that the wheel bearing received extra stress from the loose and broken axle and failed as a result of the botched warranty repair. "No" says the shop. The Wheel bearing is bad - your cost to repair.. $1300. We argued but got nowhere with them. No choice but to pay up. I'm now $1,300 lighter in the wallet, and while I cannot prove the wheel bearing was related to the axle failure - common sense tells me that the bearings failure was premature at only 21,000 miles.

Car was fixed and ready to pickup. We take it home and immediately notice a large chunk has been taken out of the OEM left front wheel, and our brand new tire is cut in the sidewall in two places. This wheel was curbed hard while the wheel bearing issue was being diagnosed in the parking lot. Since the tires were just put on the car about 1 week prior, I know for a fact there was zero damage to the wheels or the tires, and the damage to the rim looked very fresh.

Dealer denies. I push harder and show evidence from their own inspection of the car that it had to have happened while they were driving it. After much back-and-forth, the service manager calls me and admits they "dropped the ball on this one". They finally agreed to replace the tire and repair the wheel. After waiting patiently for 2 weeks after they agreed to fix it - I finally picked up the new tire and wheel yesterday.

Is this just me that is having such incredible bad luck at Audi of Des Moines? We own 2 Audis - the S5 and a 2014 S8. We love the brand - but our dealership experience is tainting the experience so badly that we may have no choice but to move on from Audi.

Good morning, thanks for reaching out to us. I am sorry to learn of you and your wife's experience with Audi Des Moines. I appreciate you sharing your experience with us, as your feedback will certainly help us to improve our level of service to customers at the dealership level. I am glad Audi Des Moines did assist with the axle, tire, and repair the wheel. However, I am sorry for the back and forth with the dealership on obtaining a resolution on these items. If you'd like to discuss your experience further, please send me a PM with your full name, mailing address, phone number, email, and VIN. Thank you!

I don't want to get sideways with Audi of Des Moines any more than I already am...My S8 has another year and a half of factory warranty and AudiCare so I'll have to go back there in the future or drive 3 hours to Kansas City or Omaha...
Please keep my comments confidential. Thanks

My Experience with Audi of Des Moines

Take your car to carousel in Iowa city... the two hours is worth it. Brought my s4 in for a recall on a fuel line. Supercharger had to come off during the repair. Not only did the original "repair" take twice as long but when I went to pick it up I was called back and told that my s4 with less than 50k miles was never going to start again... I was told that the cylinder head had cracked due to overheating and that there was now coolant in the cylinders. Now mind you I drove this car in with nothing wrong with it so I wasn't just about to give up... after getting the advice of local shops and spending almost a month arguing with the dealership, as they insulted me over and over again claiming it to be my fault did they finally "discover" that their technician had set down my supercharger on a bolt and it had punctured the supercharger... the dealership finally gave in and replaced the broken piece... I was without the car for a month with no loaner and a huge headache thinking I was going to have to fork over 10k for a new engine! I still had to bring the car to another shop to have $1700 in work to clean up their mess! They were not apologetic at all and one of the most awkward experiences of my life was picking up the car being stared at as if I had done something wrong... Lithia of Des Moines is the worst dealership ever and you can bet the two hour drive is well worth it in my eyes!

Good advice Sunsation. thanks for your input. I knew mine could not be the only car Des Moines Audi #$%& up on a regular basis. They flaunt their "Magna Society" status which cannot be worth anything if they got it.

They definitely lost my entire family as customers... my father was contemplating between an r8 spyder and a SL 63amg and lithia made our choice very easy. They don't have near the customer service nor the care that Willis does